Dr. Marian Levy, associate professor and director of the Master of Public Health program at the University of Memphis, has received the Ruby R. Wharton Outstanding Woman Award in the area of race relations.

Memphis-based Neely's BBQ, which just received a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Blue Ribbon Small Business Award, will be honored in April at a small-business summit in Washington. The meeting is part of the chamber's Small Business of the Year selection process. Shown here are Pat and Gina Neely during their Food Network show, "Down Home with the Neelys."

The Alliance for Nonprofit Excellence will host "Conducting Market Research and Focus Groups" today from 9 a.m. to noon at The Assisi Foundation of Memphis Inc., 515 Erin Drive. The cost to attend is $65 for Alliance members, $55 for participants in the Program for Nonprofit Excellence and $99 for nonmembers. For more information or to register, contact April DeBerry at 684-6605 or adeberry@npexcellence.org.

Nearly 100 people who will change your life forever gathered in Memphis recently to discuss the future of artificial intelligence, and to revive the goal of building machines capable of abstract thought.

A female employee in the office of the Shelby County Board of Commissioners filed a lawsuit this week in federal court alleging that a former county commissioner sexually harassed and assaulted her over a four-year period beginning in 2002.